Extra: School matches sports teams with academic offerings

Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence credited as the primary financier of the American Revolution, might be a little surprised at how his name is known most broadly today.

For a man who accomplished much with little formal education, Morris has six schools named for him, two of them universities.

While he might smile at that irony, the English-born man who was heavily involved in our nation’s founding in many diverse ways would no doubt approve the participatory mission of Robert Morris University in Illinois, which is spread across 10 locations, including Peoria.

The school originated in Carthage in 1913 as the Moser School. In 1965, it was chartered as Robert Morris College, and 10 years later was moved to Chicago.

Peoria became the school’s sixth satellite campus in 2000.

“Our philosophy of education is to offer students a relevant career-focused curriculum, opportunities for students to work on projects for real-world companies and engage students in something they love doing,” said RMU president Michael Violtt. “We believe participation is important to the educational experience. Athletics really fits that bill for us.”

Indeed, athletics are a large part of the school’s campuses in Chicago, Springfield and Peoria. RMU Illinois fields nearly 50 teams, and about 20 percent of all students are part of a squad.

In Peoria, that figure is much higher. Three-fourths of RMU-Peoria’s 400 full-time students are members of one of the school’s seven sports — men’s football, baseball, hockey and basketball and women’s basketball, volleyball and bowling.

Classes are held at the school’s Downtown headquarters on Fulton Street. The sports teams play at various locations throughout the area, from Eastside Centre to the RiverPlex.

“You learn more through athletics about setting goals, motivation, failing and working as a team than you do in the classroom,” said Violtt, who began sports at the main Chicago campus in 1995. “If we just wanted to grow enrollment, it would be a lot easier to give students scholarships to enroll and not field a team. But it’s more about enriching the value of what we’re offering as part of the education.”

At the Peoria school, baseball and the two basketball teams are beginning their first seasons in the small-college United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). Football launched one year ago and had a sparkling 7-1 record, finishing with a third-place national ranking in the National Club Football Association (NCFA).

“I didn’t really know what to expect the first year,” said football coach Loren Peacock, the former head football coach at Limestone Community High School. “We ended up winning our conference (the Great Lakes) and were just a few points from playing in the national championship game. We have all local kids (there is no university housing) and always thought the football in the area was good enough to put together a good team.”

How to pay for all of these startup sports at a small private school with little to no gate receipts?

Robert Morris athletics are tuition-driven, said RMU-Peoria athletics director Justin Merriss. All athletes receive a portion of that tuition paid for through grants and scholarships.

And the school is still looking at adding even more sports.

“We’ve seen some good (enrollment) drivers with sports, which has caused an uptick in our Peoria enrollment,” Merriss said. “We’ve looked at adding men’s and women’s lacrosse and also at soccer and softball.”

Violtt doesn’t apologize for the emphasis on athletics at Robert Morris, noting there are plenty of other university extracurricular activities for students to become involved in as well.

“We are what college sports is supposed to be about,” he said. “Look at a school like Ohio State. Are those football players there because the university wants them to participate? Or is it about big money and exposure?

“We traditionally have seen a better graduation rate and more engagement in the classroom with our student-athletes. We believe students need to be engaged. I’d like to see 100 percent participation (in an outside activity) at all our campuses.”

On that note, Robert Morris the man would certainly agree.

Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or dreynolds@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @davereynolds2.